


Frederic's Legacy, or, The Privateer Patriarch

by norah



Category: Pirates of Penzance - Sullivan/Gilbert
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Pirates, WWII, Yuletide, libretto, operetta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 02:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norah/pseuds/norah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pour, oh pour the birthday sherry!</p><p>Warning for blatant disregard of the provisions of the 1856 Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frederic's Legacy, or, The Privateer Patriarch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [El Staplador (elstaplador)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elstaplador/gifts).



> A million thanks to thefourthvine for a last-minute beta, and oddly enough, to my parents, who not only inculcated in me an early love for this fandom, but sang through the whole story on Christmas Eve to find problem areas and suggested solutions.

29 February, 1940.

Scene. — _A British aircraft carrier/destroyer off the coast of Poland. As the curtain rises groups of young women dressed in blue uniform are discovered assembled in ranks around a table which holds a large cake. FREDERIC, now an old man but still in pirate costume, is enthroned on a deck chair. MABEL stands beside him, hand on his shoulder, and raises her glass to the assembled women._

**ALL.**
    Pour, O pour the birthday sherry;  

    Fill, O fill the birthday glass;  

    And, to make us more than merry,  

    Let the cake and biscuits pass.
** GRANDDAUGHTERS.**
    For today our fathers' father  

    Celebrates four score and four;  

    Honor him and dear Grandmother  

    Long life now and evermore!
**ALL.**
    Although the date's quadrennial  

    Our love endures perennial.
**DAUGHTERS.**
    Papa Frederic leads us on, our  

    Privateering patriarch  

    His our duty and our honor  

    After him we gaily march.
**ALL.**
    Although the date's quadrennial  

    Our love endures perennial.
    Pour, O pour the birthday sherry, etc.
**MABEL.**
    Thank you, daughters and granddaughters all, for gathering on our foredeck to celebrate our dear Frederic's eighty-fourth year.
**ALL.**
    Hear, hear!
**MABEL.**
    It is his courage — and our love for one another — that brings you all here today. Not only in the ancestral sense, but as members of this crew.
**ALL.**
    Hear, hear!
**CAPTAIN.**
    To-day we honor him, as forefather and as founder of our brave seafaring service.

**SONG – CAPTAIN**

**CAPTAIN.**
    When Frederic was apprenticed, well, you've all heard how his nurse erred  

    And by ingenious paradox, his contract's end was deferred  

    His conscience and his duty warred within him, 'til at long last  

    His pirate crew was exposed to all as noblemen, not outcasts.  

    Then they reformed, or at least performed their legislative duties  

    And Frederic and the rest of them were wed to landed beauties.
    They passed the decades pleasantly in lawful occupation   

    'Til the Great War put a halt to peace for four years' long duration.   

    The pirate crew went to sea again to defeat the Central Powers  

    And we daughters vowed to emulate their loyalty with ours.  

    True Britons all, we heard the call to service, and enlisted  

    But we quickly found we were landbound, and stubbornly resisted.
    We didn't want to free men for the fleet with landbound service  

    We meant to sail the ships ourselves, but it made the Navy nervous.  

    Dear Papa saw our plight and he approached His Royal Highness  

    With a plea that balanced perfectly necessity and slyness.  

    Let them all embark, with a Writ of Marque, as private commerce raiders —  

    The King agreed, and we were freed to hinder German traders.
    We all played merry havoc with supply lines for the Allies  

    And many a supply ship added to our captive tallies.   

    Yet the gratitude of nations is but transient and fleeting;  

    At the conflict's end we found ourselves to home and hearth retreating.  

    We were not resigned; for the sea we pined, and we raised our many daughters  

    Preparing them for the moment when we could reclaim the waters.
    In autumn of last year poor hapless Poland's annexation  

    By Germany and Russia entered into the equation  

    And going to His Highness we most humbly petitioned  

    That we might once more by royal writ or warrant be commissioned.  

    And now at last it's come to pass that our hopes have been requited;  

    As privateers in wartime years, we are once more united.
**ALL.**
    Huzzah!
**CAPTAIN.**
    And now, our dear patriarch, we would be honored if you would grace us with a speech.
**ALL.**
    Speech! Speech!
**FRED.**
    _(Standing)_ I confess that as a young man, I once longed for the occasion of my twenty-first birthday, that I might be released from my indentures. But now that the day has come, I feel only a deep gratitude and satisfaction at seeing —


_(The CAPTAIN holds up a hand to silence FREDERIC, as a young communications officer, out of breath after rushing across the foredeck, speaks urgently in her ear)_


**CAPTAIN.**
    Father, though we long to celebrate with you, as a slave to duty yourself for so many years you will no doubt understand that when we are called to action, we may not tarry. A Russian supply ship has been spotted approaching the blockade, hoping to bring succor to the Germans. It is our solemn duty to intercept them, without delay, in the name of King Edward.
**ALL.**
    Hail, King Edward!

**SONG – CREW**  


**CREW.**
    We'll go deflect  

    The hapless Cossack prize;  

    They won't expect  

    An ambush from the skies  

    Divert their course  

    And intercept their aid,  

    As we enforce  

    Our privateer blockade!
    Come, daughters of the sea  

    King and Country call us;  

    We must let nothing stall us;  

    Let's harry Germany  

    With a little piracy!


_(The deck bursts into a flurry of activity as the women run to their stations, don their flight gear, and prepare to engage the enemy.)_


**RECITATIVE.**

**FRED.**
    Oh, Mabel, behold our daughters!  

**MABEL.**
    Our daughters, and daughters' daughters!  

**FRED.**
    Yes, behold them!

**DUET — FREDERIC and MABEL.**

**FRED.**
    They do their duty willingly;  

**MABEL.**
    As pilots and as seamen.  

**FRED.**
    A privateering legacy!  

**MABEL.**
    It makes me proud to see them.  

**FRED.**
    Upon the enemy they fall!  

**MABEL.**
    So brave and fearless are they  

**FRED.**
    By air and sea they heed the call  

**MABEL.**
    They will accept no parley.  

**FRED.**
    Forth they go upon the waters  

    To attack their prize!  

**MABEL.**
    Forth they go, our lovely daughters   

    Soaring through the skies.
    Frederic, my true love,  

    They're something to be proud of,  

    Every single woman of them bent on piracy.  

    Implacable young ladies  

    All bent on raising Hades  

    What a legacy — what a legacy.

**ENSEMBLE.**

**MABEL.**  

    Beholding them in action   

    Gives such satisfaction   

    They will crush the enemies of   

    England by the score!   

    What better birthday present   

    Could consecrate the event  

    Of your four score and four —  

    Your four score and four!
| **FRED.**  

    I share your reaction  

    To seeing them in action  

    What a bold and formidable  

    privateering corps!  

    I could not be more content  

    With witnessing their ascent  

    For my four score and four —  

    My four score and four!  
---|---  
  

_(FREDERIC leans against MABEL, and they stand on the deck embracing as the planes roar overhead.)_


End file.
